Nerval frequently published collections of works that had already appeared separately, as both a way to make money, but also for literary reasons, as the same themes repeat and develop within each collection. Major sections of Voyage en Orient, Les Illuminés, and Les Filles du feu were published separately. Most new editions of Nerval's works, favor the last, collected, version as definitive. Michel Brix, the editor of this re-edition, however, has made the unorthodox decision to publish the 1850 version of Les Confidences de Nicolas on its own, and not as part of Les Illuminés from 1852. The original, or at least first, context of the work allows Brix to focus on the connections between Les Confidences and Nerval's entire work and life, while minimizing its connections to the other figures in Les Illuminés. This has the added advantage of slimming the volume, thus allowing for a substantive preface by Brix.
Les Confidences (French Edition)
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